Allotments 4 All

I plan to prepare a proper bean trench for the first time this year. :-[
Is there anything, other than the obvious rat-attracting stuff, that I should not add to the trench and is it best to always cover the layer of waste with a layer of soil or compost? I'm worried about rabbits, cats and dogs as well as rats.

Not something I bother with personally Caroline... I thought you just left it open as you filled it,  :-\

My thoughts are that compostable material is best composted in the compost heap then dug into the garden as required. Bean trenches give no advantage over normal well prepared soil.

I made the mistake when I dug a two foot deep bean trench of throwing in some old kitchen potatoes thinking it was deep enough they wouldn't grow.  Wrong!  Can't get rid of the d**n things now.

What you are doing is "trench composting", as Eristic says, just the same as in a compost heap.
However, the idea of a bean trench is to increase the water-holding capacity of the trench, to achieve this most folk just add plenty of cardboard or paper to the bottom  of the trench. ;)

As well as compost and manure, I puts loads of cardboard and shredded paper. This seemed to work O.K. and they all rotted away. Beans were O.K. too (berlotti + french + runners)

hi,i dig a trench bout 18" deep,put loads of paper in 1st then other stuff on top keep treading it down and then about a month before im going to start planting i fill the trench in with soil.must admit tho i dont think the crop is any better than the other beans i plant with no trenching,

i wouldnt bother, i did this once, the next year i just built up my canes and put manure around them when they grew up a bit, the wife couldnt pick the things fast enough.

we're trying, this year, dug a trench and hal filled it with chicken shed stuff, all the straw, shredded paper and chicken poo..covered over and, by the time the beans are planted, the stuff underneath should be well rotted and a good feed for the beans..hopefully, anyway  ;D

I have just dug in manure prior to planting with a layer of straw. Not sure I want producing more beans than they already do! Can't eat them fast enough anyway.

I think it is most useful where you have light free draining soil as it helps hold any extra moisture at the roots, needed more for runners than CFB.  :)

Maybe I won't bother then, or just put some paper in the bottom and carry on putting my waste in the compost bin at home. Thanks anyway!

I'm coming in late & pretty sure that everything I've done/want to say has been (bean?) covered..when I started off years back I had thick clay which supported nothing - not even a worm :-\, so I trenched. I didn't have a compost heap at the time & so collected all my soft cuttings, kitchen waste, leaves etc. in black bags during the autumn, with holes punched in them & left them in a sunny spot. Come the Spring that first year I dug my first trench, 2 spits deep (damned hard work, shifting all that clay.) I then layered bin-bag waste with broken soil until the trench was filled, then top-dressed with regular compost, and planted into that. Extended the veggie plot in just the same way the next year. Result really has paid dividends, so yes, if you've heavy (or v.sandy) soil which needs improving,  I reckon it's worth it. BUT if you can get away with not...don't! ;D

I dig quite a deep trench put lots of well rotted horse manure in then cover with soil
(we do have great soil in the Fens) Am I right in thinking from the posts above that I would do just as well if I just spread and dug the manure in? Would certainly help my sciatica.

QuoteAm I right in thinking from the posts above that I would do just as well if I just spread and dug the manure in?

I tested this out many years ago and provided the soil is well dug and equally well fed the beans grew as well or better than those planted on a compost trench.

Quite frankly runner beans are tougher plants than many book writers give them credit for. My current wigwam of runners is now about to go into its third season without even being dug but has a 3-4 inch layer of manure thrown on top and beans dibbled in when the time is right.

There is a danger on heavy soils that a deep trench could act as a sump during a prolonged wet spell leaving the roots in a stagnant pool.

Eristic, I think I will try that this year. I only have a small veg area in my garden  but I do (and the family) like my runner beans.

My father always dug a runner bean trench and had fantastic crops. Personally, I've never bothered, but then I grow my beans up wigwams and it's a tad tricky preparing circular trenches!

But I always dig in plenty of manure, compost etc. And I always get good crops.

Hi Caroline I dig a trench as my beans go in the same place every year, I fill it with shredded paper, veggie peelings and manure then fill it back with the soil, the first year I never did this and in the warm weather I was having to water all the time, since the trench I have cut the watering by about 75%   :o  so is it worth it, I would say so.  ;D ;D ;D

If the summer's like the last two years we won't need to worry about watering anyway! >:(

Cardboard, newspapers, home-made compost and a little manure work very well for me.